1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to automobile manufacturing and, more particularly, to an automatic door flusher to flush a door of a vehicle to an adjacent body panel during manufacturing.
2. Discussion
In the assembly of automobiles, surface alignment of vehicle doors to the vehicle body is critical. The process to ensure this alignment is known as flushing. Failure to keep these surfaces flush results in poor aesthetic vehicle appearance and increased aerodynamic drag. The aerodynamic drag results in reduced vehicle fuel economy and performance.
In automobile assembly plants, flushing of doors to an adjacent body panel occurs in an assembly line generally after most of the vehicle is assembled but before painting of the vehicle surface. Before the door and body panel are flushed, the door is attached to the vehicle by its hinges. The door is maintained in a closed position by bungee cords attached to the door and interior of the vehicle. Traditionally, proper flushing of a door to an adjacent body panel required manual application of a magnetic block to the vehicle door and to the adjacent body panel. The block acts to bridge the door and body panel and pull the door against the force of the bungee cord thereby flushing the two surfaces.
Increased quality standards, such as 100% in-line inspection, requires automakers to automate the flushing process to maintain throughput (speed at which the vehicles are produced) with the increased quality standards. As a result, automatic tooling was developed which provides moving a flushing block with mechanisms such as slide units or dump units to a position adjacent to the door and body surface. The slide or dump units physically move the flushing block to a position next to the vehicle body and door. Like the magnetic block, when the flushing block is next to the vehicle body and door, the flushing block is used to flush the respective surfaces of the vehicle body and door. When the door is flush, measurements are taken to determine if the door is in the proper position. If the door is not in the proper position, then adjustments can be made to the vehicle door assembly process.
However, there are some drawbacks to this conventional automatic tooling as presently operated. First, conventional automatic tooling uses flushing blocks made from steel or other rigid materials. When this material contacts the vehicle body surface, it can dent or scratch the surfaces. Second, when the flushing block is improperly positioned, due to inherent body and design variations, the flushing block may not contact the body if positioned too far away or may dent the body surface if positioned too close. The present invention overcomes these drawbacks.